Gluten-free and SCD

I know green and blue aren’t the traditional colours to celebrate Canada Day but they are Canucks colours. I should say first that I’m not exactly a hockey fan – I don’t know any of the rules or how the game works, but it’s the togetherness, fans united, that counts I think.

The Canucks-Bruins playoff was a big thing – I didn’t realize how big until I saw it even in British online publications (with headlines like, “If you thought football fans were mad, think again”)! What made more headlines, though, were the Vancouver, B.C. riots. A lot has already been said about the riots and a lot of people have already covered it and spoken their opinions. Myself, I’m not happy that the riots happened and that people behaved in that manner; what disappointed me more, though, were the people who badmouthed Vancouver – not just because I was born and raised in this city (don’t get me wrong, I love my city) but that most of those comments weren’t even from people who had visited or at some point lived in Vancouver. To me, it is akin to a tourist saying that somewhere – a city, country, etc. – is a bad place or attributing its people to something undesirable, especially if it’s for television, when it is really just an opinion and one’s own perspective. (I’m not saying you have to like a city – if you don’t, that’s fine, but don’t badmouth it. For example, what I saw of San Francisco last year I liked and someday I’d like to explore more, whereas there are people I know who have been to San Fran and did not like it the least bit. To each his own.)

The riots, and the behaviour exhibited, were not truly representative of Vancouver and its people. What happened before the playoffs, the togetherness of the Canucks fans, though, is memorable and should be remembered: fans whooping and cheering, as cars drove by horns were honked and hands sticking out of car windows giving high fives to strangers on the streets. The hope of winning. It was an incredible thing to witness. It was a tough game and, yes, the Canucks lost this time – but it should be that joy that is remembered most of all.

That being said, before I share today’s recipe I’d like to share some of my favourite things about Vancouver and in no particular order.

(Click after the jump for my Vancouver favourites and for the recipe!)

The Tea Room – a bakery and kitchenware store on 10th Avenue, it’s a great place to relax and have lunch or dessert, or just discover a great kitchen find. (They even have a backdoor patio and a back room as well that can be reserved for parties, etc.) May I recommend the fruit galette, princess cake, mango mousse cake…? There are lots of desserts I could recommend and they are regularly rotated. (Note: there aren’t many gluten-free or other allergy specific foods, with the exception of chocolate covered stawberries off the top of my head.) They also have a great selection of teas. I’ve visited several times, including my birthday. [Website]

Granville Island Market – Whether you’re a tourist or living in Vancouver, this is a place everyone should go visit. Parking can be crazy but it’s worth going for the artisan shops – handblown glass, pastries (including world famous Thomas Haas chocolate sparkle cookies and decently priced), jewellery, hand-crafted materials – and having a good time. There are also farmers’ markets. [Website]

Kidsbooks – Located on Broadway, it’s the place to find great kids’ books (including audiobooks on CD) with a wide range of ages including young adult fiction. Whenever I go there I always find a great new read. [Website]

Sephora – At Pacific Centre in Downtown Vancouver, it pretty much has everything. The first time I went there I came away completely jazzed, with the feeling I could have bought the entire store, or at least most of it – there is SO MUCH! If you’ve never been to Sephora before, beware. You won’t go in there without seeing something you like. [Website]

Urban Yarns – Knitting and yarn stores are more of my Mum’s thing but I also like looking at yarn, especially when scarves are involved. (I’m a scarf fiend and have a drawer full of them like it’s nobody’s business. I actually found a scarf today that was started and I’m finishing it – knitting seems to be one of those things in life that once you learn, you never forget.) [Website]

Food Trucks – Vancouver is becoming more diversified in its food scene and that includes food trucks. Edible Vancouver ran a great article on it a couple of months ago, which you can read here. If you have an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad, you must download this free app. It gives you a map of all the food trucks in Vancouver, including their hours and any special deals for the day, and the list is always being added to.

I meant to have this up for Canada Day but between a faulty laptop on its last legs and no Internet connection while travelling, it’s going up a day late. My family and I spent Canada Day on the highway coming back home from Disneyland in Anaheim, California. We had a great time and I took lots of pictures with my iPod; I had brought my camera as well but I ultimately ended up using my iPod more, especially since it was easier to transport than carrying a camera on my hip so to speak. I’ll have a post up soon with all the pictures. :)

If you’re not a fan of green tea ice cream or even green tea itself, you may like this anyway. The So Delicious Coconut Milk Green Tea Ice Cream does not taste overwhelmingly like green tea; only just enough so you know it’s green tea and the creaminess also helps, I think. When eaten with the blueberry sauce it blends in with the green tea flavour – almost to the point of masking it, so a good thing if you’re trying to expand your ice cream flavour palette, get kids to eat an ice cream they like the colour of but don’t like the taste of, etc.

Dairy-Free Green Tea Ice Cream with Blueberry Sauce

1 tub So Delicious Coconut Milk Green Tea Ice Cream

1 dry pint fresh blueberries (use frozen if fresh aren’t available)

Rinse the blueberries and pick through them, discarding any green or bad berries. Place the blueberries in a small saucepan with a little water to prevent scorching. Gently cook over medium to low heat, until berries have released their juices and have softened. Remove from heat and cool. (It’s okay if it isn’t a thick sauce.)

Scoop two to three scoops of ice cream per person into bowls or tall glasses. Drizzle or spoon the cooled blueberry sauce over and serve immediately.

Hi wildninja, Coconut Bliss is available in Canada and we have tried some of their flavours, most recently their pineapple coconut. So Delicious also uses agave nectar to sweeten their coconut milk ice creams and have recently also started selling a “no sugar added” coconut milk ice cream that uses erythritol, a kind of sugar alcohol. More info can be found in their blog post here.

I adore So Delicious Green Tea ice cream. I think it’s one of their most delicious flavours! I only wish it wasn’t so hard to find. But what a delightful treat when I do, and so much lovelier than other brands of coconut milk ice cream, which can have a weird aftertaste or taste gritty. Enjoying green tea ice cream with blueberry sauce sounds like a wonderful idea. I am really looking forward to trying it. Thank you!

Hi Anna, the green tea flavour isn’t yet available in Canada but hopefully it will be soon. It’s amazing how many things green tea pairs so well with! So Delicious is the best brand we’ve found so far for coconut milk products, their ice cream is always creamy and has a consistently smooth aftertaste. (Even Rice Dream is jumping on the coconut milk bandwagon with “Coconut Dream”, though I don’t know how it is compared to So Delicious’ Coconut Milk Beverage, which has only recently become available here.)

Both the ice cream and the sauce look brilliant!
I’ve never been to Vancouver, although I’d like to, but everyone I know who has been has said how great it is – and from the pictures I’ve seen, it’s stunning too… and that shoe shop looks great :-)

What a great post Zoe. I hear you about the riots and the way people jumped on Vancouver. The media is to blame, they love a good-bad story. I tried really hard to avoid it all.

I look forward to hitting up some of these Vancouver spots (though I do know Fluevogs – Pete bought his wedding shoes there! and of course Granville Island Market! ).
Love your idea of an easy but impressive ice cream treat! xo

Thanks, Maggie – I try avoiding the news, too; I’ve talked about what happened with my family and it seems that this was an opportunity to bring Vancouver down a notch since the Olympics but I don’t really understand it. Besides of which, it was a small area of the whole city – there were people who had no idea that it was going on or it had happened until they saw the news. Crazy stuff! On to more fabulous things, that’s sweet your husband’s wedding shoes were Fluevogs! :) He sounds like a stylish guy.

Zoe, your ice cream dish looks really good and when I eventually visit Vancouver I’ll reference your listing for sure. You and some other favorite folks of mine live in Vancouver. What is that quote? Something like the majority should not be judged by the actions of so few. Don’t remember it exactly, but it definitely applies. When my son’s college basketball team lost in the NCAA final four there was some rioting. It is a bad thing for sure, but not reason to recharacterize a whole city or area. I agree with Maggie that the media does like to magnify any news like this. Good for you for being loyal and supportive of Vancouver!

Thanks, Shirley, I’m intending to write a more comprehensive list of places in Vancouver and have it on its own page eventually. :) There were some other places that came to mind but I tried to stick with businesses that are mainly established here and are unique to Vancouver instead of chains that could be found anywhere, such as Starbucks or even Vancouver Pizza, which isn’t as unique as it seemed – merely Boston Pizza renamed during the Stanley Cup finals. ;) I like that quote you mentioned and it rings so true. I’m not dismissing the riots or making excuses but there’s the chance that if the Bruins had lost, there’s the possibility that something similar could have happened in Boston. Anyway.